I started life as a journalist and political operative. I'm a consultant and the author of "Reinventing You" and "Stand Out." I also teach for Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. You can download my free 42-page Stand Out Self-Assessment Workbook at http://www.dorieclark.com/join.

Why Public School Leaders Must Embrace Social Media Now

For close to a decade, social media has been upending industries, from journalism to entertainment. But many public school leaders have remained on the sidelines, fearful and focused on potential negative outcomes. There are clearly some good reasons why educators look at social media with skepticism. For example, a Brooklyn teacher was fired for complaining about her students on Facebook (a decision later converted to two years’ suspension without pay).

But the demand that public schools market themselves in order to compete for precious government dollars has reached a fever pitch. As a consultant who has worked with dozens of school districts, I’m convinced that if schools want to improve their image with taxpayers, they must begin to use social media. The benefits are just too great, and as more of the taxpaying community ties into social media through mobile devices, “traditional” public schools have to become non-traditional, and join the conversation.

Joseph Donzelli, the communications director for the Fort Myers, Florida regional school district – one of the largest school districts in the nation – argues that Twitter has enhanced their communication efforts. Also, Fort Myers has guidelines in place for personal use of social media by their professional staff. “We put in guidelines for social media for all of our staff to reference for the last two years,” he says, “and since then, we have not had one incident.” The reality today is that public schools should be harnessing and using social media to communicate with their audience and to talk about their strengths. Today’s public demands it.

Communications: Often, schools communicate with stakeholders via either regular postal mail or the school website. When a school district decides to utilize social media, their stakeholders can receive information like the “Principal’s Report,” event information, schedule changes, and more in real time. They can also use social media to listen to what many in their community are thinking about their local public schools.

Public Relations: Given so much negative media about public education, schools can no longer leave public relations to chance. Social media allows schools to direct their followers to newspapers and TV segments featuring positive information. School districts can also use social media to highlight the hard work of their students and staff, and their school district’s accomplishments.

Branding: Whenever someone sees the Golden Arches, they know they’ve found McDonald’s. This should be a school district’s goal through social media – that whenever someone sees their school district’s logo, they should think “innovation” (or whatever the desired brand may be).

Just like websites, which eventually became “must have,” every school district will ultimately need to embrace social media. The school districts that will thrive will be the ones using social media to engage their community, and aggressively enhance and protect their reputation. The ones who do not will find themselves playing defense with an unengaged public and a healthy number of skeptics who may question the value of public education in their community.

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I had the pleasure of attending the session with Joel at the University of Dayton. As a superintendent it is fascinating to watch the evolving opportunities for effective communication. There are so many new tools that make it easy to provide communications through a menu of different sources. It is simple to post on one site and have it pushed to Twitter, Facebooks, blogs, emails and RSS feeds. With training and assistance school districts can provide information with a “how you want it” attitude for the community.

Wow–it looks like the leaders of public schools will need to learn a whole new skill set. I imagine that this sort of work is not a part of the standard training for a school superintendent. I am excited about the pilot program Joel is starting at the University of Dayton–looking forward to seeing where it goes!

Gagne is right-on. One of the toughest things for educators to do is to market. After 30 years of doing consulting work in the field, I mourn the glacial pace of adapting to social media. A decade ago even publishing a regularized newsletter was looked down upon by administrators. Now, especially in states where taxes must be approved by the electorate, the number of districts that use social media creatively remains far lower than it should be, especially in affluent districts where the social media “penetration” rate is high. Districts continue to move slowly. This reality is especially troubling because the adult generation most accustomed to using social media—young adults and parents—craves the social media outlet. It’s not just what you say that counts, but what medium you use.

Great article – school leaders need to read this! Parents are constantly craving more information and these tactics are easy and even affordable ways to get them information quickly. At the same time, school districts will really benefit from getting feedback from parents and other members of their school community.

Great read. I think it’s difficult to argue with the conclusion – if a school has a website, it’s hard to see why it would resist mirroring and enhancing that content via social media. Schools that adopt early surely have an opportunity here to gain an advantage.

It’s the 21st century, social media should definitely have a place in the classroom! A teacher in Los Angeles has already seen much success using Twitter to communicate with students, check it out: http://am.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/10/twitter-as-a-teaching-tool-enrique-legaspi-shares-his-innovative-teaching-technique/

Really enjoyed the article! This is going to be essential as public schools look to reinvent themselves. Rather than allowing fear to stop change, it is time to embrace it and utilize the power of social media.

I really enjoyed reading this article. I think Joel hit home on something that more people in the education world need to dig in and think about. Both my parents were teachers and my sister is a teacher. I am going to send them this article and make sure they read it.